Breaking

Global cases exceed 4.3 million

Nearly 4.3 million people worldwide – including more than 1.3 million in the United States – have been infected with the new coronavirus, and the number of deaths from the outbreak continues to rise. While efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak continue, states have begun to shift their focus toward reopening their economies.

The global death toll attributed to the novel coronavirus reached 293,514 early Wednesday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

In the four months since the virus was first identified in Wuhan, China, it has infected at least 4,298,269 people worldwide. Meanwhile, nearly one in every four deaths reported worldwide has occurred in the United States, and 10 nations now have total infection counts higher than China’s 84,021. The 10 nations with the highest number of infections recorded to date are as follows:

The United States has reported 1,370,016 cases, resulting in 82,389 deaths; Russia has confirmed 242,271 cases, 2,212 deaths;

Meanwhile, UNICEF published a report on Tuesday estimating as many as 6,000 children could die daily from preventable causes over the next six months if the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to overburden health care providers and disrupt routine care.